Discovering Her
by BloomingViolets
Summary: SPD. You can know someone, but never know who they truly are or what they are truly like. Sky discovers the true side of Sydney. [SkySyd]
1. Sky's POV

**Discovering Her**

**Summary: **You can know someone, but never know who they truly are or what they are truly like. Sky discovers the true side of Sydney.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters you recognize. I do own Terri, Dawn, Joeyand Matthew though!

**-x-**

_Sky's P.O.V._

Isn't it strange when you think you know a person, you come to know what they're like, and you've formed an opinion about them, only to discover something that completely shatters what you thought?

For me, Sydney Drew had always been the example of 'what you see is what you get.' She was the typical rich girl. Spoiled, whiney, somewhat snobby and had an attitude that was irritating to the boot. She had this high class attitude that made you think she thought she was better than everyone else because she had money. When she waltzed into the Academy with her nose high up in the air, I had wanted to laugh. I didn't think she'd last more than one week.

Oh, I had heard of Sydney Drew before she had ever stepped foot into the Academy. Her father, being a rich business man and all, was famous for his many successful dealings, and as a result, he and his family were always in the news. So when Sydney walked into the Academy with her cheerful smile, I didn't think she'd last more than one week. And for the first few days she had proved my opinion true. She was spoiled, she was whiny, she was stuck up and she complained a lot. She was everything I thought she was.

But she surprised me.

She lasted more than a week. In fact, two years later, she was still at SPD Academy. But, she was still spoiled, still whiney, and was still used to getting what she wanted. At least she wasn't snobby anymore.

Her personality hadn't changed much. That is, until the day I discovered another side to Sydney Drew.

**-x-**

It was a sunny Tuesday afternoon and for once Commander Cruger had given us the day off. I was sitting on one of the couches in the Recreation Room, reading my SPD handbook, and just relaxing in general. Bridge and Z were playing chess and Jack was sitting on a bean bag chair thumbing through a sports magazine.

Syd then walked through the door, carrying what looked like twenty shopping bags. We all looked up, watching with interest, as she struggled with all the packages.

Finally, she gained her balance and looked at us with a triumphant smile. "Hey guys."

"Whoa Syd," Jack teased, "Did you clean out the mall?"

Syd shrugged, looking pleased with herself. "Possibly."

"Are all those for you?" Bridge asked, looking up from his game.

Her eyes were dancing with delight as she shook her head. "Nope, these are for the kids in that orphanage down on Center Street."

There was a brief silence before the other three rangers burst into laughter. Even I had smiled a bit. The thought of Syd giving things away for free was absurd. After all, she was a princess. However, my smile vanished once I saw the flash of hurt in her eyes. Her smile had faded and she looked like she wanted to cry. The look on her face disappeared a moment later and her usual confident stature was back.

"Of course all these things are for me!" Her voice sounded happy, but suddenly I had noticed something different. "Who else would they be for?"

Within minutes, everything went back to the way things were before Syd entered the room. Sydney left to put her packages away, Bridge and Z returned to their game, and Jack went back to reading his magazine. But for some reason, I couldn't go back to reading my book, that look in her eyes had intrigued me. I had only seen it for a split second, but I knew I hadn't imagined it.

Sydney's feelings had been hurt by our laughter.

Exactly a week later, (Cruger had given us another day off) I was outside getting ready to practice my martial arts when I spotted a familiar blonde making her way towards our SPD vehicle, carrying the packages she had purchased a week earlier. Curiosity came over me and I quickly ran over to my motorcycle, determined to figure out what Sydney was up too.

I followed her along the road, carefully keeping out of sight. She drove for fifteen minutes before finally stopping and pulling up in front of a rundown looking house. My breath caught when I spotted the sign that hung above the doorway of the house.

**New Tech City's Orphanage. **

I waited ten minutes before getting off my bike and walking up to the door. Cautiously pushing the front door open, I was greeted with sounds of happy, excited laughter. Walking down the corridor, I was amazed at the fact that Syd had been telling the truth earlier that week. I followed the laughter and stopped just before a big room with no door. Curiously, I peeked in.

And what I saw made me stop in my tracks.

Sydney was sitting on the floor, crossed legged, with a child in her lap. There was a bright happy smile donning her face. There were several other children surrounding her as she handed out the packages.

Now the Sydney Drew I knew did not give out things for free. She would not be sitting on the floor and she would most certainly not be spending her free time at a rundown orphanage. She would be shopping, or looking at the latest expensive jewelry. Time seemed to slow down as I stood there and watched her laugh with the children. I don't think I've ever seen a sincere smile like that on her face before.

I was mesmerized.

Once she had finished handing out the packages, she stood back and watched as the children opened them.

"Miss Sydney!" A little girl with bright red hair in pigtails came up to her and tugged on the hem of Syd's uniform. There was a white teddy bear clutched in the girl's arms. Syd bent down so that she was face to face with the little girl. "Thank you for my present Miss Sydney!"

Syd laughed and held her arms open, giving the little girl a hug. "You're welcome Terri."

I watched as other children came up and thanked her, each little innocent face showed their gratitude and appreciation. A feeling came over me and it was indescribable. I don't think I'll ever forget what I just saw. It was then I had begun to question myself on how well I really knew Sydney Drew.

"Miss Sydney!" The same little girl tried to get Syd's attention once more. When the pink ranger turned towards Terri, she pointed towards me. "Who's that?"

Syd turned before I had a chance to hide and her face took on a surprised expression. I was sure there was a guilty look on my face as I stood there and waited to see her reaction. It took a moment, but she suddenly smiled. She stood up and walked over to me, reaching out; she grabbed my hand and began pulling me into the room. A little shocked, I made no objections as she led me to the small crowd.

"Kids," she announced, "this is my friend Sky."

A little boy, maybe around the age of 8, raised his hand. He looked up at us curiously. "Is he your boyfriend, Miss Sydney?"

I felt the heat rise to my cheeks at his innocent question, but Syd just took it all in stride. "No, Matthew," she laughed, shaking her head slightly. "Sky is my friend. We work together at the Academy, he's on my team."

Suddenly I felt self-conscious as I noticed all the wide-eyes looks being directed at me. Then I felt my uniform being tugged at and I looked down. "Hi Mr. Sky," Terri beamed up at me, "do you have special powers like Miss Sydney?"

A wide smile came to my face and I squatted so that I was at the same level as the little girl. She couldn't have been any older than four or five. "Yes, I can create invisible force fields."

"What's a force field?"

"It's sort of an invisible wall. You can't see it but you can feel it."

Suddenly I was surrounded. "Can we see? Can we see?" The eagerness in their voices was easy to detect.

Behind them, Sydney stood grinning fondly at the children. "Alright kids, I'm sure Sky would be happy to show you if you give him some room. Let's go to the backyard okay?"

No sooner did those words come out of her mouth, did the kids run. Their thunderous steps went through the house and soon I heard their voices coming from outside. "Come on Mr. Sky, show us your invisible walls!"

I looked at Syd, who shrugged and walked towards the back door. Wordlessly, I followed. I pushed the door open and looked out at all the expectant faces.

"Okay, everybody let's make some room so Sky can show you what he can do okay?" Syd called out.

I looked around at all the beaming faces and raised my arm. I swung my hand around in a large circle, and a glinting blue shield was soon in front of me. I looked around and grinned at all the wide-eyed, impressed looks.

"That's not all," Syd announced suddenly. Picking up a soccer ball that was lying around she handed the ball to a boy that looked to be about the age of 10. "Here Joey, throw the ball really hard at the shield okay?"

The boy obliged and took the ball and threw it at my shield. The ball bounced off the shield and landed on the other side of the yard.

"COOL!" The voices chorused.

Syd came and stood next to me and we watched as the children huddled around each other, talking excitedly about what they had just seen.

"So, how did you know I was here?" she asked after a few moments.

I suddenly felt awkward as she asked me that question. "Um," I cleared my throat nervously, "I followed you here."

"Why?"

Her question was simple enough. Why _had_ I followed her?

"I don't know, I saw you leaving and I guess I got curious."

And that was all that was said for the next hour. While we played with the children, all I could think about was the fact that this Sydney Drew was so different from the Sydney Drew that I interacted with everyday. Why did she hide this side of her?

**-x-**

Three days later, things were still the same, but at the same time, things were also very different. During those three days, I had observed Sydney more than I ever had, and suddenly I started noticing the little things that I would've otherwise missed.

Everyone else saw her as a typical blonde. Had put a label on her. I was ashamed to admit to myself that I had done so as well. Sydney may be a blonde, but she wasn't stupid and my respect for her had shot up a hundred notches.

The others, of course, never noticed anything different. To them, Sydney was still the princess; she was still the girl who whined and she was still spoiled. She was the happy go-lucky girl that they saw everyday.

But I had begun to see that it was all an act. Sydney had done a fabulous job convincing everyone to believe that her spoiled image was who she really was. She was really good, if I hadn't seen her interact with the children three days earlier, I would've gone on believing it myself.

But _why_, why did she hide behind this image? For the life of me, I couldn't figure it out.

This act continued on for a few more days, before I confronted her. And when I did confront her, I was surprised at what she had to say.

"You really think it's easy, pretending to be something I'm not?" Her voice was soft as she stared at me. It was all I could do to just stare back. "Ever since I arrived at SPD, everyone already saw me as this rich girl. They could never see me as otherwise."

"That's not true!" It was the only thing I could think of to say.

Sydney looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it? Remember that day, I came back from shopping and Bridge asked if all the things I bought were for me? I said that it was for the kids at the orphanage. And what did you guys do? You all laughed."

My gaze shifted toward the ground, and guilt spreaded through me. What Sydney said was true. It was hard thinking of the pink ranger being anything other than a princess. I looked at her once more. "I'm sorry Syd."

"Don't worry about it," Syd dismissed my apology with a wave of her hand. How she could forgive me so easily after so many years of thinking that she was whiny and spoiled was beyond me. Then she looked at me with her blue eyes and smiled. "The kids really liked you, you know. Would you like to come back with me and visit tomorrow?"

There was no doubt in my mind. "Yes," I answered.

**-x-**

Three months passed since the day I confronted her and now I go to the Orphanage with Sydney every chance I get. I particularly became attached to this little girl named Dawn, who was four and loved everything about the world. In fact, all the children at the orphanage were so happy and loving, despite the fact that their parents had abandoned them at such a young age.

Not only was I becoming attached to the children, I was also developing feelings for Sydney. Isn't it strange once your eyes open up to something new, it's all you can think about? For the past month, thoughts of Sydney had been plaguing my mind. There was so much more to her than everyone thought. She and I had become close, and because I knew her secret, she began confiding in me and pretty soon I was confiding in her as well. We discovered each other's greatest desires; hers was to find each of these children a wonderful home, mine was to rid the world of evil. We discovered each other's greatest fears; hers was that she'd end up being alone and lonely, and mine was failing and letting others down. With her, I was able to show my true self, and with me, she was able to be herself. With me she is enduring, quiet but also passionate. With her I am loud and carefree. I think what made us understand each other was the fact that we accepted one another. Our heartfelt talks became special to me and I held them close to my heart.

One afternoon, I was sitting outside in the backyard of the orphanage with Dawn sitting next to me. We were watching Sydney play a game of Tag with the other children.

"Mr. Sky?"

I looked over at the little girl next to me. "Yes, Dawn?"

"Do you think Miss Sydney is pretty?"

Dawn's eyes looked up at me expectantly and I faltered, not knowing what to say. I shifted my gazed and watched as Sydney chased three children around the yard and I smiled. "Yes Dawn, I think she is very pretty."

Dawn grinned a toothless smile. "I think Miss Sydney is very pretty too! When I grow up I want to be pretty just like her."

"You know what Dawn? I think you're the prettiest little girl I've ever seen."

The little girl blushed prettily. There were pounding steps and we both looked up to see Sydney in front of us, breathless from their game.

"Why are you guys just sitting here?" The pink ranger grinned, "Come play with us!"

In a flash, Dawn jumped up and grabbed Syd's hand. "Okay Miss Sydney!" The little girl scampered off, joining the festivities and Sydney laughed. She then turned to me, her blue eyes sparkling with joy. "Come on Sky, let's play with them."

I obliged and as I chased Terri and Matthew around the yard, my eyes made contact with Sydney's. And that's when I knew.

I love her.

**-x-**

This story was my first try at writing in first person. What do you guys think? Review!


	2. Syd's POV

So, here's the long awaited second half of 'Discovering Her'. I want to apologize for the delay, since I had intended this story to have been posted _long ago. _Syd's POV was much harder to develop than I thought and I had a lot of difficulty writing this piece. Eventually, I managed to come up with something that was _remotely_ decent and taa-dah, here's the final product. It's not as good as Sky's pov or my best work up to date, but I'm satisfied with it for the time being.

Much thanks goes out to Pink-Green-White-4Ever for helping me with this chapter. Couldn't have done it without all her helpful suggestions!

Disclaimer: don't own anything you recognize.

**-x-**

He's watching me again.

And it's sort of creeping me out a bit. He thinks I don't notice, but I do.

Sky Tate, Mr. By the Book, the man with a giant stick up his butt, the person who follows the rules very closely, was watching me.

_Me._

Sydney Drew.

I don't get it. Okay, so maybe he did discover another side of me. And maybe it did change his perspective of me, so what?

Sigh.

Sky Tate was a person that was not fond of change. He was neat and orderly and had things planned down to the very last detail. I guess I disrupted his world of balance when he followed me to the orphanage.

And with the way he keeps looking at me, I'm starting to wonder if it's a good or bad thing.

Three days ago, Sky had followed me on one of my many visits to the orphanage. Imagine my surprise when Terri pointed toward the doorway and there he stood, looking guilty but at the same time looking awed. Sky, of all people, discovered my greatest secret. I didn't know what to do, I just reacted. I have no idea what possessed me to introduce him to the children, but I'm glad I did. It was probably one of the strangest but most memorable moments in my life. Sky Tate and Sydney Drew, playing with the children at the orphanage, who would've ever thought?

I know what you're thinking. _Sydney Drew_ at an orphanage?

The answer is yes, believe it or not, Sydney Drew _does_ visit the orphanage. Regularly too.

I've been visiting the orphanage for more than two years now. I had discovered the rundown house when I was sixteen. I had been driving, on my way to my first SPD orientation, when I had taken a wrong turn and had gotten lost. I stopped at the orphanage to ask for directions when one of the children had come up to me, asking if I was there to visit them.

Terri, that little girl with bright red hair captured my heart.

I ended up missing most of the orientation. For once, I had found something that I had wanted to do. (Well, joining SPD was something that I had wanted to do, but I had been planning on joining for awhile.) Stopping at the orphanage had been completely unexpected and it made such a huge impact on me. It was like fate had stepped in, and who was I to argue with fate? The experiences meant something to me. I began to make it a point to stop at the orphanage every few days no matter how busy my schedule was, putting all my efforts into it. I donated money –something the orphanage definitely needed and I introduced everything I could think of to help the kids.

If you had asked for a list of my greatest accomplishments, I could name a whole bunch of things. Modeling, singing, acting, and becoming a power ranger at SPD are just some of the great things I've done, but I think the biggest achievement of all was teaching these children how to read. Because the orphanage ran on a low budget, (the money from the government was only enough to supply food and pay for the electricity) the kids didn't have enough money to go to school and get an education. Seeing the looks on their faces as they discovered the joy of books, almost made me cry. I definitely had tears in my eyes.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. A couple of days after our encounter at the orphanage, Sky ambushed me. I was walking along the hallway, when all of a sudden someone grabbed me by my arm and hauled me into an empty, unused room that was reserved for some new cadets that were enrolling into the Academy. Sky stared at me, looking more serious than I had ever seen him.

And that's when we had our first real heart-to-heart talk.

"Why Syd? I don't understand why you're pretending. Why do you let everyone think that shopping and clothes were all you cared about?"

Needless to say, I was pretty surprised at what he had to ask me. He wanted to know why I wasn't being myself. For a minute, I thought about denying it, but then I looked into his eyes, into his piercing gaze. His eyes, they were so blue, and they were staring at me with such a deep intensity that I found I couldn't lie, nor could I look away. So I spoke the truth.

"You really think it's easy, pretending to be something I'm not?" The words suddenly flowed out and I couldn't stop myself. I don't know what made me do it, maybe it was the years of not being able to express myself to someone, or maybe it was the years of always being misunderstood, either way, I found myself pouring out my heart to Sky. "Ever since I arrived at SPD, everyone already saw me as this rich girl. They could never see me as otherwise."

He was gaping at me. "That's not true!"

Seeing his surprised gaze almost made me what to laugh. Instead, I just raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it? Remember that day, I came back from shopping and Bridge asked if all the things I bought were for me? I said that it was for the kids at the orphanage. And what did you guys do? You all laughed."

Now he just looked guilty and he immediately apologized after my outburst. But by then, I felt so relieved to finally letting all my feelings out that I just dismissed his apology and invited him to join me the next day for another visit to the orphanage. I was surprised, but a little pleased when he accepted.

**-x-**

For some reason, I didn't think he was going to actually come. So it surprised me a bit when I found Sky waiting for me at approximately 2:00 the next afternoon. It was a little strange seeing him wear a pair of faded jeans and a simple blue t-shirt, but the look completed him well. He greeted me with a casual grin and held up his hand, the keys to the jeep dangling from his fingers. "Lead the way," he said.

I didn't respond and just grinned. I snatched the keys from his hand and got into the driver's seat, while Sky went around to the passenger side. I waited until he got in before starting the ignition. The drive to the orphanage was quiet, and for some reason, I was nervous. I didn't have a reason to be nervous, after all, it was just Sky. But I was nervous, my hands were shaking but thankfully Sky didn't notice.

All my anxiety faded when we finally reached our destination. As soon as I stepped out of the car, the door of the orphanage slammed open and all the kids came running out.

"Hi, Miss Sydney!" Terri ran up and wrapped her arms around my waist, giving me a big hug.

Terri's cheerfulness made me smile widely. "Hi, Terri!"

"Can you braid my hair, Miss Sydney?"

"Of course, sweetie. Anything you want!" I turned and greeted the other kids, before remembering that I had forgotten about Sky. "Hey kids, do you all remember my friend Sky?"

Terri detached herself from my waist and then ran over to Sky. The little girl beamed at up him and then gave him a hug as well. Since Sky was so tall, and Terri was still a tiny little girl, she was only able to hug Sky's knee. "Hi, Mr. Sky!"

I had to laugh. It was just an adorable picture. Can you just imagine little Terri hugging Sky's knee? It was at times like these that I really wished I had a camera. It was a moment to remember.

It was when I was braiding Terri's hair that I really began to question myself on how well I really knew Sky. Watching him interacting with the children, it just warmed my heart. To put it mildly, I never knew he could be such a class clown when he wanted to be. Watching Sky play a hopscotch game with Dawn and 'Capture the Flag' with Joey and Matthew and the other kids, I suddenly realized how little I knew about Sky. And I found myself wanting to know more.

**-x-**

It was about a month after that day, when Terri really brought up the subject of my new 'relationship' with Sky. He and I had become close, but I hadn't really realized just how close we had become.

"Miss Sydney?"

I was playing with Terri's hair while we were watching Sky play with the other children. "Hmm?"

"Are you sure Mr. Sky is not your boyfriend?"

I had to laugh. "I'm sure Terri."

"If I tell you something, will you promise to keep it a secret?"

"I promise."

"Me and Dawn think you and Mr. Sky should get married."

Terri's boldness startled me. I didn't think a five year old even knew what the word 'married' meant, but apparently, Terri was a lot smarter than I thought. I managed to control my surprise though. "Why do you think that?"

"Mr. Sky makes you happy, Miss Sydney. And you make Mr. Sky happy too," Terri wrinkled her nose in a cute child-like way. "He used to be grumpy and would be scared to play with us. But now he's not scared anymore."

"I think the word you're looking for is 'uncomfortable' Terri," I explained patiently. "Sky was never scared of you guys, he was just uncomfortable."

"Okay," the little girl nodded. "But, Mr. Sky laughs a lot now. And you make him laugh, Miss Sydney."

"And that's why you want us to get married?" I asked, amused by Terri's sharp perception.

"Yes!" She emphasized. "Then I can be the flower girl!"

I couldn't help it, I laughed.

**-x-**

After that day, things really began to change between Sky and I. I took Terri's words to heart, and I saw that Sky and I have changed since we began confiding in each other. It was a little strange; I never thought the person that would understand me the most would turn out to be Sky. It makes me smile when I think about all that has happened and it makes me really glad that he followed me to the orphanage that day. He listens, _really _listens to me when I talk, and that it's really a refreshing change. It's…

Different.

Things are different when I'm with him. He laughs and smiles more. He's talkative and jokes around. Sometimes I see the others giving us strange looks because the things we do. They find it strange how Sky and I had suddenly become so close –always partnering up for training and night duty. We spend a lot of our lunch breaks and free time with one another too. I'm sure the others are probably wondering why we've become so close all of a sudden. Bridge had even asked us a couple of questions –which we avoided.

And to be honest, I preferred things this way. It was as if Sky and I were sharing a secret that only we were allowed to know. It was in Sky that I found a kindred spirit. And as long as I'm being honest with myself, I'm falling in love with him.

I really am.

**-x-**

Not the best I've ever done, but at least it's out of my hair for the time being. I may come back later on and do a total rewrite. Anyway, let me know what you think!


End file.
